HARARE: Zimbabwe's tax authority, ZIMRA, has suspended its chief and five managers in connection with the purchase of luxury cars which were undervalued by a local dealer in order to pay lower import duty, it said on Sunday.

Critics and the opposition accuse President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, of failing to tackle high level graft, and say endemic corruption is one reason that foreign companies are hesitant to invest.

Many Zimbabweans perceive officials at ZIMRA, especially those operating on the country's borders, to be corrupt and the suspension will only reinforce their views.

ZIMRA commissioner general Gershem Pasi's suspension followed the appearance in court last week of two men accused of undervaluing and preparing fake import documents for cars that they imported on behalf of the five suspended managers.

The five managers had received car loans last year and approached a dealer to import vehicles on their behalf. Pasi is not listed in the court case, but ZIMRA said in a statement it expected all its employees to act beyond reproach.

"The ZIMRA board has become aware that questions have been raised and indeed criminal proceedings instituted pertaining to the importation of vehicles by some ZIMRA employees," the agency said.

Because of this, ZIMRA had suspended Pasi and the five managers with pay. Pasi, who has been at the helm of ZIMRA for 15 years, could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

This is the first time that senior ZIMRA officials have been publicly accused of malfeasance in a country where arrests and prosecution of public officials is rare.

Zimbabwe was last year ranked 150 out of 168 countries on the Transparency International index, which measures public perceptions of corruption in public institutions.